Paper 3: Lady Macbeth Quotations Flashcards
___ “I ___ thy ___, it is too ___ of the ___ of ___ kindness”
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SOLILOQUY “I fear thy nature, it is too full of the milk of human kindness”
Theme: Villainy, manipulation, subversion of a typical woman within a patriarchy, femme fatale, soliloquy - at the time women weren’t meant to speak for themselves
Context: Supernatural,
Techniques: Adverb ‘too’, metaphor, adjective ‘human’ implies that one must resort to the help of evil to remove this quality.
Extra: Within Lady Macbeths soliloquy in 1.5, she is explaining that Macbeth is too weak to take the throne from Duncan.
___ “I may ___ my ___ in ___ ear and ___ with the ___ of my ___”
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SOLILOQUY “I may pour my spirits in thine ear and chastise with the valour of my tongue”
Theme: Villainy, supernatural, evil, atypical representation of a woman in a patriarchal society.
Context:
Techniques: Metaphor (the pouring is a transfusion of words meaning she will convince him using language of ambition malice, wickedness, evil), soliloquy - at the time women weren’t meant to speak for themselves
Extra: After reading the letter Macbeth sent her explaining the witches prophecy, Lady Macbeth constructs a plan in hope to persuade Macbeth into seeing her plan by talking to him and seducing him. She is now starting to see a queenly future and will stop at nothing to get it.
___ “Come, you ___ that ___ on ___ thoughts, ___ me here and fill me from the ___ to the toe ___ of ___ cruelty; make ___ my blood, stop up the ___ and passage to ___.”
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SOLILOQUY “Come, you spirits that tend on moral thoughts, unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe topfull of direst cruelty; make thick my blood, stop up the access and passage to remorse.”
Theme: Supernatural, atypical representation of a woman at the time, soliloquy - at the time women weren’t meant to speak for themselves
Context: Supernatural and evil
Techniques: Imperative verb, metaphor, foreshadowing (crown), soliloquy - at the time women weren’t meant to speak for themselves
Extra: 1.5 Lady Macbeth asks for her feminine qualities to be removed as she believes that manhood is defined by murder. She is asking a supernatural/evil force for power and strength.
Critical quotations:
“Lady Macbeth is demonised for desiring power over motherhood when she invites the spirits to ‘unsex me here’ to remove her gender and clot her fertility ‘make thick my blood.” - Simone de Beauvoir
“___ to my woman’s ___ and ___ my milk for ___”
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“Come to my woman’s breast and take my milk for gall”
Theme: Villainy, plotting
Context: Supernatural, atypical female
Techniques: Imperative verb (‘come’ and ‘take’), symbolism of poison (gall)
Extra: Within 1.5 Lady Macbeth calls upon supernatural agents to fill her with cruelty, in aim to become queen. Some critics view Lady Macbeth as a witch herself as she is asking for her feminine qualities to be removed and replaced with evil/poison.
“___ like ___ flower, but the ___ under ___”
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“Look like th’innocent flower, but the serpent under it”
Theme: Villainy, evil, manipulation, appearance vs reality
Context: Supernatural, patriarchy
Techniques: Simile, noun (flower), symbolism of treachery (serpent), biblical reference (to the garden of Eden where a serpent, the devil, was persuading Eve to eat the forbidden fruit)
Extra: Within 1.5 Lady Macbeth is portrayed as powerful and more willing to take action than Macbeth.
___ “We will ___ further ___”
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MACBETH “We will speak further - “
Theme: Atypical presentation of a woman at the time, manipulation
Context: Chain of being
Techniques: Dramatic pause “-“ abrupt break
Extra: Lady Macbeth interrupts her husband in 1.6 which is not expected from a woman at the time as women weren’t allowed to speak for themselves never-mind interrupt their husband.
“___… like the ___ cat in the ___ ___”
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“Coward… like the poor cat in the adage?”
Theme: Power, manipulation
Context:
Techniques: Noun (coward), simile, adjective, proverb (meaning the cat wants fish but doesn’t want its feet wet), rhetorical question
Extra: 1.7 Lady Macbeth is challenging her husbands masculinity through the rhetorical question. The proverb is her explaining that he wants to become king, but doesn’t have the masculine power to do so.
“___ you ___ do it, then you ___ a ___”
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“When you durst do it, then you were a man”
Theme: Manipulation, power
Context:
Techniques: Adverb and persuasive language ‘when’ portrays that to Lady Macbeth the decision is already predetermined
Extra: Lady Macbeth challenging her husbands masculinity. Her manipulatory skills are event through 1.7
Critical quotations:
“A theory of archetypes that categorises Lady Macbeth as a ‘temptress’ when manipulating Macbeth” - Carl
“I would, while it as ___ in my ___, have ___ my nipple from his ___ gums and ___ the ___ out, had i so ___”
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“I would, while it as smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out, had i so sworn”
Theme: Villainy, evil
Context:
Techniques: Verb, adjective, vulgar imagery, line length
Extra: In 1.7 Lady Macbeth evidently has a significantly more amount of line than Macbeth emphasising her authority over him. Lady Macbeth speaks these lines when she is trying to shame Macbeth for questioning their plan. She uses the image of a child to make a graphic statement about her own ambition and capacity for violence. By describing herself as a tender and loving mother who nonetheless would have killed her own child before she would abort a plan to seize power, Lady Macbeth disrupts the typical idea of what women and mothers are like. She uses this image to make her husband that he is being unmanly by doubting their scheme.
“___ get some ___ and wash the ___ ___ from your ___”
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“Go get some water and wash the filthy witness from your hands”
Theme: Guilt, motif of blood, consequence of crime
Context:
Techniques: Imperative verb, metaphor, verb
Extra: 2.2 Lady Macbeths response to Macbeths complaint about not being able to sleep, due to guilt. She is evidently more relaxed and cold hearted than Macbeth.
“Here’s the ___ of ___ still; all the ___ of ___ will not ___ this ___ hand. O, ___ , O”
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“Here’s the smell of blood still; all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. O, O, O”
Theme: Guilt, remorse, insanity, supernatural forces, suffering, motif of sleep and sleepwalking
Context: Supernatural
Techniques: Adverb, determiner ‘all’, adjective
Extra: Lady Macbeths mental state is decaying as she is sleep walking (which is associated with the supernatural) in 5.1 when she is accompanied by a gentle woman and doctor. She images blood on her hands from Duncans murder and tries to wash the imaged blood from her hands. Lady Macbeth
“___, ___ spot! Out, i say___ …. Hell is ___”
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“Out, damned spot! Out, i say! …. Hell is murky”
Theme: Insanity, hallucination, suffering from the punishment of crime, guilt, remorse
Context: Supernatural and evil
Techniques: Exclamatives, imperative verb, motif of sleepwalking
Extra: In 5.1 Lady Macbeth images blood on her hands from Duncans murder and is unable to wash away the imaged blood. She hallucinates that her hands are stained with his blood, proving that she will never be able to escape the guilt she is experiencing. Lady Macbeth already thinks that shes in hell from all the suffering shes experiencing.
Secondary quotation:
The doctor describes her mind as “___”
Secondary quotation:
The doctor describes her mind as “Infected” in 5.1
___ “She should have ___ ___”
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Macbeth “She should have died hereafter”
Theme: Death, love and the decay of it
Context: Suicide is viewed as religiously incorrect
Techniques:
Extra: Macbeths response to his wife’s suicide is oddly muted in 5.5. This remark could be interpreted in two way: Macbeth explains how she would have died anyways and that it is the circle of life, or, Macbeth wanted her to wait for him so they can die together.
Critical quotations:
Feminist critics may argue that Lady Macbeth subverts and rebels against the expectations of a woman in a patriarchal society.
Critical quotations:
Feminist critics may argue that Lady Macbeth subverts and rebels against the expectations of a woman in a patriarchal society.
